Cannon Instrument Company has announced major additions to its line of viscosity standards. The “N” and “S” series general purpose standards and the “CL” series low-temperature standards from Cannon will be augmented by the introduction of new materials at intermediate viscosities. The new “N” standards will be available in the spring of 2005. Introduction of the new CL standards will follow later in the year, and will be prefaced by a nomenclature change that is effective immediately.

CL Standards Nomenclature Change

To accommodate the expanded CL standard line (and additional standards that may be produced in the future) Cannon has renamed existing CL standards by adding the digit “0” to the end of each CL standard name. For example, CL14 is now CL140; CL74 is now CL740. The name change is effective immediately; part numbers for all standards in the current CL series will remain the same.

New “N” Standards

Users of the general purpose viscosity standards with temperatures between 20°C and 100°C will find that their choices have grown from 19 to 34, with 15 new “N” standards. Preliminary data on the “N” standards has been posted at the company website: www.cannoninstrument.com/viscstandards.htm. Additional details will be posted as the information becomes available.

A Note On Viscosity Index

Cannon Instrument Company produces standards from various base stocks, including mineral oils, poly-alpha-olefins and polybutenes. Each of the various types of base stocks exhibits a distinctive Viscosity Index (VI) curve (change in viscosity per unit temperature).

The new “N” standards are primarily poly-alpha-olefins and like the other general purpose standards will be named by the nominal viscosity of the standard material at 40°C or at 100°F. For example, the nominal kinematic viscosity for the new N75 standard will be 75 mm2/s at 40°C.

When complete viscosity information for the expanded standard line is available, you will note (for example) that the N75 (poly-alpha-olefin) will be more viscous at 100°C and less viscous at 40°C than the N100 (mineral oil). This is due to the unique viscometric properties of each base stock.